84 Game of Europe, W. & N. Asia & America 



hair, is considerably less than half the length of the head and body, is fre- 

 quently tipped with black. The black stripe mentioned above as occurring 

 on the front of the fore-legs extends upwards from the wrists, and there is 

 sometimes a chevron-shaped black mark on the shoulders. The thighs 

 and outer surfaces of the legs are usually of a more reddish yellow tinge 

 than the back and head, which tend to blackish. In height, a wolf gener- 

 ally stands about 2 feet 4 inches at the shoulder. 



The above is approximately the typical coloration of the European 

 wolf, but there are several colour-phases, which appear to be partly local, 

 and not improbably indicate geographical races of the species. Many 

 wolves, for instance, from the Pyrenees, are of a much brighter tint than 

 ordinary ; while the majority of Spanish specimens exhibit a considerably 

 greater admixture of black, this feature being in some cases carried to such 

 an extent as to produce an almost completely black pelage ; and a black 

 specimen has been killed in Belgium. On the other hand, the farther 

 north we proceed in Europe, the lighter, as a rule, do the wolves become in 

 colour ; the fur being also longer and more abundant, and the general tint 

 greyish instead of rufous ; and in a series of wolf-skins from Siberia that 

 have recently come under the writer's notice there is a broad stripe of black 

 down the middle of the back, almost after the fashion of the black-backed 

 jackal of Africa, the remainder of the fur being very light-coloured. It 

 may be mentioned that the name Canis lycaon has been applied to the black 

 wolf of Europe, which, however, is not a local race, but merely an example 

 ot melanism — a feature which may appear in any individual. 



Although, as already mentioned, it is quite probable that it may here- 

 after be found possible to divide the wolves of Europe and Western and 

 Northern Asia into several local races, until this is done they must be 

 regarded as one form, the range of which includes the greater part of 

 Europe and Asia north of the Himalaya. Although extinct in Britain., the 

 wolf is still found from France and Spain to Amurland, likewise occurring in 



